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After publishing Age of Titans less than a
month ago, Tahadi Games,
is releasing another title, this time originally from
Korea: Knight
Online. This new MMO PVP pits characters against each
other in a national struggle between humans (El Morad) and orcs
(Karus), alloiwing users to play on teams.

The game was launched on September 20th and offers
players a chance to challenge each other in an interactive online
world arena.

While Tahadi Games once hinted that they would produce their own
game, they now seem to have solidly stuck to being an in-region
publisher for international titles. The region is still in need of
a dedicated in-region publisher for local games; perhaps once the
right game comes along, the twofour54-suppored Jabbar company might change
its tune.

I spoke with Tahadi’s Digital Marketing Manager Adeel Ahmed and
Product Executive Ergun Gundogar to find out more about their
latest release.

What is Knight Online and how is it different than other
titles Tahadi has published?

Knight Online is a PvP, player vs. player, game with an online
community of users that play against each other in a fictional
national struggle. We have never released a fully PvP game like
this one; our other
games are either first person shooters or MMORPGs. This is also
one of the nicest looking games we’ve ever published.

How does the game work, can you explain the gameplay
style?

Most of the features and content are focused on bringing players
together to play against each other. All of the items, armor, and
upgrades are designed to serve team of players; individuals can
play against another as well as partake in larger team battles,
including “nation wars,” “castle wars,” or “castle-siege wars.”
Most of the game design draws form Eastern motifs with medieval
weaponry and magic character abilities. Players can choose from
four classes currently: warrior, rogue, magician, and priest.

Did you develop the game in-house?

No. We a regional publisher, so we get copyrights and licenses
from developers and then publish games. Knight Online game was
created by Korean developer MGame, and we have the rights to
publish and promote it only in the region.

Do you usually use game developers from the Middle East
and North Africa, or from around the world?

We don’t usually use regional developers; the developers we work
with are often located in other parts of the world. For example,
with Knight Online we are working with a developer in Korea. What
happens is that we have the license to promote the game only in the
MENA region. Knight Online has been launched by different companies
as well, but they have their own territory; there is one company
for Europe, one for America, and we are only allowed to promote the
game in MENA. But we are planning to host online massive
battles between players in the Arab, Turkish, European, and
American regions.

How do you market the games you publish, are you focused
only on the region?

We are marketing Knight Online only in the region but, for games
like Age of
Titans, we have a license to publish to gamers around the
globe. So depending on the game, we have a different license
agreement. We generally focus on MENA, but sometimes we try to go
global.

Why did you launch both Knight Online and Age of Titans
within 2 weeks of each other?

Age of Titans in browser-based, so it’s a different game
experience for regional gamers. Knight Online is downloaded on your
desktop and has a much nicer and more sophisticated gameplay than
any of our browser-based games. The PvP options are great, it’s
much better than any game we have launched before and we felt that
each of the games would reach a different type of gamer.

Has the game been popular? How many users have you
attracted so far?

We have seen a great deal of users from Egypt, we are mostly
targeting our marketing towards Egypt, but also Saudi Arabia, the
UAE and other countries throughout the region. For many in the
region, this is a new type of game. But we have seen a lot of
people connecting on our Forum to share their
experience and ask questions. We also have a community leader here
designated to answer all of their questions and manage Forum
inquiries.

Any teasers about what Tahadi has in store for the
future?

There are a few games in the pipeline now, but we don’t have
confirmation dates. I’ll let you know as soon as things are
finalized.